Halo: Scorched Earth
by Ruin Queen of Oblivion
Summary: 3 years after Halo 3, the war is still going on, and humanity's fate rests in the hands of a new Spartan. This is the story of her adventure on the Gamma Halo.


_Well, this is my first attempt at writing a Halo fanfiction, but I've written fanfiction before, so I hope I can do well here._

_I've always felt that too much was left out, not enough was explained when it came to the Halo games and books, secrets never told to us._

_So, let us take a look at my version of what happens in the years following Halo 3._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Halo._

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**PROLOGUE:**

**WHAT'S PAST IS PROLOGUE**

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**_From the Log of Commander Samantha Lorane_**

_Its been 4 years since it began, 4 years since I landed on the ringworld of Halo, 4 years since the Human/Covenant War reached its climax._

_3 years ago, we thought it was over, the Prophets where dead, and the rest of the Covenant seemed willing to negotiate with Humanity. That's when everything went wrong, during the meeting, the Covenant representatives where ambushed and murdered in cold blood, despite the fact that the UNSC denied any involvement, the war restarted._

_With the death of John-117, ONI found it necessary to start a fourth SPARTAN program in order to combat the Covenant, and a second, more dangerous threat that came from within._

_I volunteered immediately, it wasn't fun the process, but I was made the commander of the SPARTAN-IV supersoldiers, a title I wear as a badge of honor._

_But now the UNSC has an even bigger threat to deal with, a new insurrectionist force calling itself only "The Party," has emerged, having taken credit for the murder of the Covenant representatives, it seeks to destroy both the UNSC and the Covenant._

_As we speak, I am on a ship in pursuit of a Party cruiser, bound for an unknown location in the galaxy._

_This is the story of how we have brought the wrath of the galaxy onto our heads._

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**HALO:**

**SCORTCHED EARTH**

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**PART 1:**

**RAIN OF BLACKFIRE**

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**CHAPTER 1:**

**IT BEGINS AGAIN**

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_"That, is another Halo."_

_-Cortana_

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"Captain, I don't know what happened, the Party ship we where following, it just vanished when we exited Slipspace," a soldier says on the bridge of the UNSC ship, _Rain of Blackfire_.

"A Lenin-class ship doesn't just vanish into thin air, lieutenant, I want that ship found," the captain of the ship, a tall man with short dark brown hair, and wearing the uniform of a UNSC officer says.

"Captain Markos, we're getting something, its coming on screen now," the Lieutenant says, and Captain Markos walks forward to look out through the front window. "I don't believe it, but I think that is..."

_"That is exactly what it looks like, Lieutenant,"_ a woman's voice says, and then a holographic projector flickers, and an image of a woman colored red, with symbols and lines of code running down her body appears.

"Menardi, how nice of you to join the party," Captain Markos says.

_"Why thank you captain, I just happened to be in the neighborhood," _the ship's AI says_. "So that's what they found, I've never seen anything like it."_

Outside, orbiting around a giant gas planet, is a Halo ring.

Suddenly, wormholes open up, and a fleet of Covenant ships emerge into space.

"The Covenant are here too, huh? You'd think they'd have given up by now," Captain Markos says.

_"I'm getting a signal from the Covenant Flagship _Voice of the Gods _to the rest of the fleet_,_ it looks like they are just as shocked as the rest of us that Halo is here,"_ Menardi says.

"Sir, we're getting information from our preliminary scans of the ring, we're picking up large amounts of Party activity," an ensign says.

"The party controls a Halo ring, why haven't we been aware of this?" Captain Markos asks.

_"We aren't entirely sure of the Party's mission, we had heard rumors, garbled transmissions to someone they call only 'The Savior,' but no confirmation of the Party having a presence on a ring,"_ Menardi says.

"Well, we found the enemy base, I suppose the only thing we can do now is engage the enemy, can we get in contact with Earth?" Captain Markos asks, and Menardi shakes her head. "Then we'll have to mobilize what troops we have, I want everyone at battle stations now."

_"Everyone, sir?"_ Menardi asks.

"Everyone," Captain Markos answers.

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In a cabin on board the _Blackfire_, a young woman with short dark brown hair, and dressed in a black and gold version of the traditional SPARTAN MJOLNIR Mark-VI Armor, is reading through a worn book.

"Oh wonder. Oh what goodly creatures are these. Oh how beauteous mankind is. Oh brave new world, that has such people in it," she says, reading from the book.

"I never understood how you can read that stuff, Commander," a young man in similar armor, but this time the full armor that is a deep green color.

"Its Shakespeare, Matthew, its part of our history, its what we are fighting for out here," the woman responds. Her name is Samantha Lorane, commander of the SPARTAN-IV soldiers, at the moment she had about 3 under her command on the _Blackfire._

First was Matthew, a bit of a slacker really, he had been drafted into the marines, and later forced into the SPARTAN project. Despite his slacker mentality, Matthew was a capable soldier, and he was the best sniper on the team, though one might argue that to be a good spot for him.

There was Georgia, the only other girl out of the four of them that had come on the mission, a former freelancer that still had a bit of a wild child, but nonetheless, she was an effective soldier. She was also the only other member of the SPARTAN-IV soldiers that was permitted to carry an AI, who was left over from her Freelancer days.

Then there was Thomas, he had joined the project after his parents had been killed by the Covenant, he had a habit of rushing into things without thinking of the consequences, but he wasn't an idiot. Thomas was the computer expert of the SPARTAN-IV group, he could hack into any system, Party or Covenant.

"Well, if you ask me, if those Covies want to erase that little part of history, they can feel free," Georgia says in her deep southern accent as she takes a drag from her cigarette, brushing her long red hair back.

"Georgia, you know the regulations, no smoking on a UNSC ship," Thomas says, and Georgia grumbles a reply as she puts out the cigarette and replaces her silver helmet.

"Geez, don't be such a strickler, Tommy, it was just a little smoke," Georgia says.

"Just a little smoke that could've..." Thomas starts when Menardi's image flickers onto a projector nearby.

_"Children, do I need to separate you?"_ the AI asks.

Thomas calms down, and Georgia crosses her arms and turns away from her teammate.

"Sorry about that Menardi, what's the word?" Samantha asks.

_"Captain Markos asked me to inform you that we have exited subspace,"_ Menardi says.

"Yeah, so?" Samantha asks.

_"The Covenant and the Party are here, and there is something else..."_ Menardi starts.

"Spit it out already," Matthew says with a yawn.

_"Well, he wants you on the bridge, Samantha, the rest of you need to get to your battle stations,"_ Menardi says.

The SPARTANs tense up, something big was going on and they could tell. Thomas grabs his hacking equipment and puts it into a pouch at his belt while Matthew and Georgia head out the door. Samantha picks up her helmet, and slides it on.

"All right, tell the captain I'm on my way," she says, and Menardi nods as her hologram deactivates, and Samantha heads out of the room.

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Samantha runs down the corridors of the _Blackfire_, when suddenly the entire ship shakes, and knocks Samantha to her knees.

_"Alert, all personnel, enemy forces have breached sector 6,"_ Menardi's voice echoes over the intercom system.

_Sector 6? That's nearby, I could make it, but I don't have a weapon,_ Samantha thinks to herself, mentally slapping herself for forgetting her gun back in her room. As she rounds the next bend, she sees a group of Marines shooting at a group of Covenant soldiers, mostly grunts, but directing them is a hulking Brute. She had always hated those things, but she couldn't stop right now, she had to keep going.

Finally, she went through the door leading to the bridge. Captain Markos turns to look at the tall female SPARTAN.

"Commander, I apologize for getting you here on such short notice, but there is something you need to see," Captain Markos says, and leads Samantha to the front of the ship where she can see outside.

"Oh my gosh, is that..." Samantha starts.

_"Yes, Samantha, that is another Halo,"_ Menardi says, her hologram activating.

"Commander, you are currently the only known survivor of the battle of Installation 04, what can you tell us about this thing?" Captain Markos says, and Samantha sighs.

"It was built 100,000 years ago, by the Forerunner, an ancient alien race the Covenant worships as Gods," Samantha says. "From what I was able to learn from Cortana, Halo was built for a single purpose, to destroy a parasite called the Flood. But it doesn't kill the Flood, it kills their food, Humanity, the Covenant, anything with sufficient biomass to sustain the parasite."

_"Also, Halo is used as containment for the Flood," _Menardi adds, then presses her hand to her head. _"Captain, I'm getting a message from Eliza, she's picking up a strong energy signature right above us..."_

Suddenly a ship accelerates above them, and the _Blackfire_ shakes as a huge silver ship moves into view, dropping smaller ships as they accelerate towards the Frigate.

_"The Party ship, it didn't vanish, it was waiting for us,"_ another female voice says over the comm.

"I recognize that ship," Samantha says. "That's the _Mao Tse-tung_, it was there when the Party was revealed, it was last seen escaping into Titan, but no one ever found it."

_"Well, I think we just did," _Menardi says.

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_**Well, that's chapter one, was it good? Bad? Either way, I'm still going to keep writing this.**_

_**Next chapter, the battle against the boarders begins as Samantha rushes to escape from the ship and onto the Halo ring. But as Covenant and Party forces close in, can she make it? Find out in, "Boarding Party."**_


End file.
